Soprano Martina Arroyo, Met Star and Aida of Record, Dies at 90

Martina Arroyo, the dramatic soprano who sang 200 performances at the Metropolitan Opera and became the first Black woman to portray Elsa in Wagner's "Lohengrin" on that stage, has died at 90.

Born on Feb. 2, 1937 in Harlem, Arroyo was the youngest of two children of Demetrio Arroyo and Lucille Washington. She learned piano under her mother's guidance and sang in the choir at the Baptist Temple Church in Harlem before moving to the youth choir at Greater Calvary on 133rd Street.

Broadway shows in the 1940s sparked her interest in performing. Ballet followed.

How did a Harlem teenager reach the Met?

Arroyo graduated from Hunter College High School in 1953 and earned a Bachelor of Arts in Romance languages at Hunter College — a deliberate choice, so she could sing Italian properly in opera. In May 1955 she starred in the premiere of Jan Meyerowitz's "Bad Boys in School" with the Hunter College Opera Workshop.

She studied voice as a teenager with Marinka Gurewich but didn't take it seriously. There were, she reasoned, no opportunities for Black women. Gurewich threatened to drop her. That threat worked.

Along the way she taught high-school literature at P.S. 45 in the Bronx, studied for a master's in comparative literature at New York University, and spent two years as a social worker at the East End Welfare Center.

In 1957 she debuted at the Carnegie Recital Hall, where concert manager Thea Dispeker took her on — a partnership that would last decades. That same year the Metropolitan Opera turned her down. In 1958 she won the Metropolitan Opera Auditions of the Air, earning a scholarship to the Met's Kathryn Long School, where she studied drama with Rose Landver, plus German, English diction, and fencing.

On Sept. 17, 1958, she made her operatic debut in Carnegie Hall as first Coryphaeus in the American premiere of Ildebrando Pizzetti's "Murder in the Cathedral." She then sang the Israelitish Woman in Handel's "Judas Maccabaeus" with the Utah Symphony, recorded and released the following year on Westminster Records.

What made her career?

In 1959 she made her Met debut as the Celestial Voice in Verdi's "Don Carlo." Opera historian Clyde T. McCants called this her "first Met career" — comprimario (supporting) roles through 1962. Met General Director Rudolf Bing advised her to go to Europe, where opportunities were better.

She listened. In 1963, the Zurich Opera offered her a contract and she debuted in the title role of Verdi's "Aida," staying as resident artist until 1965. Aida became her signature. She debuted in the role at the Hamburg State Opera in 1963, and at both the Deutsche Oper Berlin and the Vienna State Opera in 1964.

On Feb. 2, 1965 — her 28th birthday — Bing phoned and asked her to step in for the ailing Birgit Nilsson in "Aida" at the Met. An audience disappointed by Nilsson's absence gave Arroyo an enthusiastic standing ovation. That ovation launched a steady Met career.

Her Met roles included:

• Elisabetta in "Don Carlo"
• Amelia in "Un ballo in maschera"
• Donna Anna in "Don Giovanni"
• Lady Macbeth in "Macbeth"
• Leonora in "La forza del destino"
• Liù in "Turandot"
• Title roles in "La Gioconda" and "Tosca"

Why did the Met appearances thin out?

After 1978, small tumors pressing on her spine made stage movement difficult and limited her later roles. Her mother's death and Bing's departure from the Met brought personal and institutional changes that affected casting.

Her final Met appearance came in 1986, as Aida. She returned once more in 2002 to host the finals concert of the Metropolitan Opera National Council Auditions.

Elsewhere she sang at the Royal Opera, Teatro alla Scala, Opéra National de Paris, Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires, San Francisco Opera, Lyric Opera of Chicago, Bavarian State Opera, Vienna State Opera, and the Staatsoper Stuttgart, among others. Her repertoire ran from Verdi and Puccini to Schoenberg and Stockhausen; her concert work spanned Strauss, Mendelssohn, Mahler, Rossini, and Handel.

She announced her retirement in 1989 but kept a foot in the field. In 1991 she portrayed the title role in Puccini's "Turandot" at the Staatstheater Kassel, and Leslie Adams created the role of Miranda specifically for her in the world premiere of his opera "Blake" that same year.

What did she do after the stage?

Plenty. Arroyo taught at LSU, UCLA, the University of Delaware, Wilberforce University, and the International Sommerakademie-Mozarteum in Salzburg. She joined the faculty of Indiana University's Jacobs School of Music, retiring as Distinguished Professor Emerita in May 2007.

She founded The Martina Arroyo Foundation in 2003 to develop emerging young opera singers, taught masterclasses, judged competitions, and served as a Trustee Emerita of the Hunter College Foundation and on the Board of Trustees of Carnegie Hall. She was appointed to the board of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Honors included a Kennedy Center Honor, a 2010 Opera Honors Award from the NEA, an honorary doctorate from the City University of New York, and inductions into the Academy of Vocal Arts's Hall of Fame for Great American Opera Singers and the American Classical Music Hall of Fame.

Her discography includes "I vespri siciliani," "Un ballo in maschera," "La forza del destino," and "Aida." The foundation she built at 66 ensures that the next Arroyo — the one Gurewich nearly lost — will not have to reason that opera has no room for her.

By Daniel Okafor